Players Avoiding Arbitration: American League

The deadline for players and teams to exchange arbitration figures passed at 1pm ET yesterday, meaning over the next few hours, there will be a landslide of settlements on one-year deals to avoid an arbitration hearing. We’ll track today’s minor settlements from the American League in this post. Once all of the day’s settlements have filtered in, I’ll organize them by division to make them a bit easier to parse.

It’s worth mentioning that the vast majority of teams have adopted a “file and trial” approach to arbitration, meaning that once arbitration figures are exchanged with a player, negotiations on a one-year deal will cease. The two parties may still discuss a multi-year deal after that point, but the majority of players who exchange figures with their team today will head to an arbitration hearing.

Hard-throwing reliever Mychal Givens will make $2.15MM, per Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times (via Twitter), with additional incentives for making the All-Star team or placing in the Top-3 for the Rivera/Hoffman Reliever of the Year Awards, added MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (via Twitter).

The Mariners agreed on a $1.95MM deal with outfielder Domingo Santana, per MLB.com’s Greg Johns (via Twitter). Santana is the second and last of the Mariners’ arbitration-eligible players.

The Angels agreed to contracts with a pair of players yesterday, per Maria Torres of the LA Times (via Twitter). Reliever Hansel Robles signed for $1.4MM. Robles threw 36 1/3 innings of 2.97 ERA baseball after the Angels claimed him off waivers from the Mets in June. Luis Garcia, acquired via trade from the Phillies this winter, signed for $1.675MM.

The Yankees reached an agreement with Sonny Gray for $7.5MM, per Nightengale. Gray, of course, has been involved trade rumors most of the winter, but for the time being, he stands to play a role in the Yankee pen while providing insurance for the rotation.

Didi Gregorius has also come to an agreement with the Yankees on a one-year, $11.75MM deal in his final season before free agency, per USA Today’s Bob Nightengale (Twitterlinks).

New Yankee James Paxton signed for $8.575, per Nightengale (via Twitter). Paxton is under contract for the 2020 season as well.

The Houston Astros came to an agreement with Collin McHugh for $5.8MM, per Nightengale (via Twitter). McHugh could be moving back into the rotation after a stellar season in the pen, either way this will be his final season of arb eligibility before hitting the open market.

Power righty Dellin Betances is in agreement on a $7.125MM deal with the Yankees in his final season of arb eligibility, Sweeny Murti of WFAN tweets.

The Tigers have avoided arbitration with outfielder Nicholas Castellanos, according to Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press (Twitter link). It’s a $9.95MM deal. Castellanos had projected for $11.3MM.

Righty Brad Peacock gets $3.11MM from the Astros, per Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle (Twitter link). Fellow right-hander Lance McCullers Jr. will earn $4.1MM, Mark Berman of FOX 26 tweets, though he’ll miss all of the 2019 campaign due to Tommy John surgery. A third Houston righty, Will Harris, settled at $4.225MM, per MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart (Twitter link).

The Tigers have deals in place with a series of pitchers. Lefty Matthew Boyd will play on a $2.6MM salary in 2019, Robert Murray of The Athletic tweets. Lefty Daniel Norris gets $1.275MM, Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press tweets. Fellow southpaw Blaine Hardy also has a deal, Fenech tweets, with MLB.com’s Jason Beck putting the price at $1.3MM (Twitter link).

While the Orioles have now reached deals with all of their eligible players, per Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com (Twitter link), we don’t yet have salary terms. Dylan Bundy, Mychal Givens, and Jonathan Villar make up the arb class. Bundy takes down $2.8MM, per another Kubatko tweet.

The Angels have a $3.7MM deal for the 2019 season with lefty Tyler Skaggs, tweets Nightengale. He comes in $100K north of his $3.6MM projected salary and can be controlled for another two seasons before reaching free agency.

Miguel Sano and the Twins agreed to a $2.65MM salary with another $50K of plate appearance incentives, tweets Nightengale. Sano’s deal is $450K shy of his $3.1MM projection, and he can be controlled through the 2021 season.

The Rays and righty Chaz Roe settled on a one-year pact worth $1.275MM, tweets Murray. Roe, who’d been projected at $1.4MM, is arb-eligible for the first time and controlled through 2021.

Brandon Workman and the Red Sox settled at $1.15MM, tweets Alex Speier of the Boston Globe. The second-time-eligible righty is controlled through the 2020 campaign and had been projected at $1.4MM.

The Yankees and outfielder Aaron Hicks have agreed to a $6.0MM salary, tweets Nightengale. The deal comes in just short of his $6.2MM projection. The 29-year-old is entering his final season of arbitration eligibility before reaching free agency.

Blue Jays infielders Brandon Drury and Devon Travis have agreed to one-year deals worth $1.3MM and $1.925MM, respectively, according to Ben Nicholson-Smith and Jamie Campbell of Sportsnet (Twitterlinks). Each of the pair falls short of their respective $1.4MM and $2.4MM projections. Drury, a Super Two player, will be arbitration-eligible three more times and is controllable through 2022. Travis, meanwhile, has three-plus years of MLB service and is under team control through 2021.

The Twins and right-hander Jake Odorizzi have settled on a one-year deal worth $9.5MM, tweets Nightengale. Odorizzi, who is in his final year of arbitration eligibility before reaching free agency, receives slightly more than his $9.4MM projection.

Max Kepler and the Twins have reached an agreement on a $3.125MM salary, tweets Murray. A Super Two player, this is Kepler’s first season of arbitration eligibility. Coming in just under his $3.2MM projection, Kepler will remain under team control through 2022.

Mariners left-hander Roenis Elias has agreed to a one-year deal, tweets Greg Johns of MLB.com. Financial terms are not yet known. Elias, controllable through 2021, had been projected to earn $1.0MM.

The Astros and righty Ryan Pressly have settled on a $2.9MM salary, tweets Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle–slightly less than the projected $3.1MM figure. Pressly enters his last year of arbitration eligibility and can reach free agency as early as next winter.

Twins right-hander Trevor May has agreed to a one-year deal worth $900K, tweets Murray. This marks May’s second year of arbitration eligibility; he will remain under team control through 2020.

Closer Ken Giles and the Blue Jays have settled on a one-year, $6.3MM contract, tweets Nicholson-Smith. Projected to earn $6.6MM, Giles is in his second year of arbitration eligibility and is controllable through 2020.

Outfielder Byron Buxton and the Twins have agreed to a one-year deal worth $1.75MM, as Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN first tweeted. Buxton, a Super Two player entering arbitration for the first time, had been projected to earn $1.2MM and will remain under team control through 2022.

Angels starters Andrew Heaney and Nick Tropeano have settled on one-year deals worth $3.4MM and $1.075MM, respectively, tweets Bob Nightengale of USA Today. Heaney’s 180 innings in his first full season back from Tommy John surgery helped him to top his $2.8MM projection handily. Tropeano had been projected at $1.5MM. Both pitchers have three-plus years of MLB service time and are controlled through 2021.

Yankees catcher Austin Romine agreed to a one-year deal worth $1.8MM, tweets Nightengale. The 30-year-old, who had been projected to earn $2MM, is entering his final season of club control before reaching free agency.

The Red Sox and Blake Swihart settled on a one-year deal worth $910K, tweets Murray. That checks in south of his $1.1MM projection. As a Super Two player who’s arbitration-eligible for the first time, Swihart will be arb-eligible three more times and is controlled through 2022.

The Blue Jays and Joe Biagini settled at $900K, tweets Murray, which lands just shy of his $1MM projection. Biagini barely qualified as a Super Two player this offseason and will be arb-eligible three more times. He’s controlled through 2022.

The Athletics and Mark Canha agreed on a one-year deal worth $2.05MM, tweets Robert Murray of The Athletic, landing just shy of his projected $2.1MM figure. With three-plus years of MLB service, Canha is in his first season of arbitration eligibility and is controllable through 2021.

Angels infielder Tommy La Stella settled with his new team at $1.35MM, tweets Murray. Projected to receive $1.2MM, La Stella is entering his penultimate season of team control before hitting free agency.

Swihart is certainly but Trout even at his contract is still the biggest bargain in baseball.

There is not a team in baseball that wouldn’t take his current deal. Even teams that have serious depth in the outfield with players they’re high on. Even the most penny pinching of organizations would take him without a question asked.

Trout’s contract is not the biggest bargain in baseball. Not to say that it’s not great, but Bregman is an excellent player who’s super cheap with lots more control. Jose Ramirez/Cisco Lindor/Mookie Betts ect. all make substantially less than MNT but are only marginally lesser players.

I agree with both of you; everyone in baseball would take Trout at his current contract, but I would argue that the best *dollar for dollar* value is probably Jose Ramirez. He was a 7-8 win player last season and is only signed for somewhere around $4-6 million a year (I don’t remember the exact numbers). The other guys except for Trout are still under team control but they didn’t sign extensions like Jose did.

Well as they save a bundle on him, they just gave Mookie a 10 million raise to 20 million and he’s going to get a 10 year 300+ million deal so enjoy the 200k savings as they pay 10 million more than last year. Good thing Red Sox won it because they lost a ton of good players and their young guys are about to get paid. Welcome to the new “Cap” era because this was the year where the penalties really start to hurt if you go over the Luxury Tax threshold. By the time the new deal gets negotiated in 2021, the penalties get worse. Baseball needs to have a bottom now otherwise its just going to be teams fielding 4a players to save money. If those owners can’t afford to spend the money or don’t want to, force them to sell because their are many billionaires willing to have a team and will spend what it takes to win.

Red Sox working on locking up Holt on a two-year deal + a 3rd year option … if terms can’t be worked out expect a one-year contract of approximately 3.45 M to be announced later today.
Try and find that anywhere on Twitter

You are correct they were.. Holt was offered $3.45M for this year plus $4.5 for 2020 with a $500k buyout of a 3rd year option.. but felt discount for multi year guarantee was too steep and opted for 1 year at $3.575M..
Jed Lowrie’s contract was a comp his agent at LSW
sought to use in negotiations.. to no avail.

He managed 180 innings last year, which is good, especially for the Angels and struck out 180 batters in those 180 innings with a league-average ERA. He’s a fourth-starter and 3.4 million bucks is actually pretty good for a fourth starter. Even if he just pitches like he did in 2018 he’s creating some surplus value at that salary. And often, pitchers improve quite a bit a second year after TJ.

$3 million is chump change for any starting pitcher. Matt Harvey just got $11 million from them for being a failed young ace with somewhat of a revival last year. And then Patrick Corbin got 6 years, $140 million for having just first good, full season since 2013. I’d say Heaney’s salary is more than reasonable.

I agree Fred. Never tossed a season under 4.00 ERA, already had TJ’s etc, he’s spent more on the DL than on the mound. He maybe a “serviceable” starter, but almost certainly at the 5 spot in the rotation. I have $5 that says Barria ends the season with more innings pitched and a lower ERA than nick.

Players aren’t happy that management isn’t throwing money away for past production and over paying at the end of long term contracts anymore. Elite players are still getting paid, low end players are getting what they’re worth, minimum wage averages 600K. The mid level players have to realize they are not worth as much as they are led to believe, and those 7-10 year 100+ million contracts aren’t happening any more for most. You’re going to get paid for your production over the entire length of your contract with age and production decline amortized into that calculation. The days of team management hoping to get 7 productive years out of a 10 year contract and figuring out how to manage the finances of the last 3 years is over. Get used to it.

I think players will begin to place more importance on AAV as opposed to length when bargaining FA contracts. Jake Arrieta last year is a good example. Going by past years I’m sure he expected a 5+ yr guarantee at or around $100m. Settled for 3/$75m, bit less length and bit more AAV. Keuchel will probably be similar this year

I like Canha. I think he can still be useful as a fourth outfielder/bench piece. He figured out how to hit MLB LHPs, but struggled against RHPs. Yet, some optimism he can start to hit RHs since his rookie year he hit RHs really well. Maybe, he’ll put it all together next season.

For whatever reason, the Twins sure do feel like they owe something to Buxton. It’s such a strangely run franchise. The ownership is extremely risk averse and has the earned reputation of being tight-wads, but then they seem to feel bad when they operate in the same manner every other team in MLB would operate in regard to a nearly failed prospect with a year left to prove they deserve a starting role.

Buxton has 2 months and 200 plate appearances of luck fueled offense in what is otherwise an 800 plate appearance exercise in elite futility.

If Buxton didn’t have that 2 months of success, the Twins wouldn’t have kept him down for service time and wouldn’t have asked if he could play through the pain because they’d already be expecting Buxton to be a 4th outfielder. Likewise, if Buxton was hitting well last year, the service time would never have come into consideration, and even if it had, the Twins would be convinced Buxton had a lot of value in the future and wouldn’t have gambled on angering him.

The fact the Twins kept Buxton in the minors is 100% on Buxton, and the Twins owed him nothing. Guess they think the $500k will mean something if Buxton breaks out? LOL. Okies.

While I agree Buxton may be the best defensive centerfielder of our era if he gets a chance to play, he also takes insane risks defensively that have contributed to much of his problems at staying healthy. I personally believe he can hit at the major league level, and he must…. Because the days of defensive only players are pretty much history (ala Kiko Garcia). The post by Martras holds merit in the fact that Twins ownership doesn’t deal well with raw talent. They release David Ortiz, and now don’t know what to do with two of the biggest prospects of the past few years in Buxton and Sano. Maybe it will eventually work out for both of them as perennial All-Stars, but not sure it will be with the Twins.

Well said. I hope someday the finances of the game change, where players can earn more in their early (productive) seasons, and less in the latter when production wains. It’s hard to blame mid-market teams from even talking to the agents of Machado and Harper.

You would like it, you then can see what others make and if you are fairly compensated. That is what the players and agents are doing. Without it, teams have even more power by keeping salaries and contracts under wraps